Félicien Kabuga was one of the last perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide wanted by international justice - Simon Wohlfahrt / AFP

  • Félicien Kabuga, 85 (or 87 according to him), was arrested on May 18 in Asnières (Hauts-de-Seine) by the gendarmes of the Central Office to combat crimes against humanity, genocides and war crimes.
  • Wanted by international justice, he is suspected of having financed the genocide which caused the death of 800,000 people, mainly members of the Tutsi minority, in 1994 in Rwanda.
  • The Paris Court of Appeal ordered Thursday that he be handed over to international justice for trial. But his lawyer, wishing that he be tried in France, indicated that he was going to seize the Court of Cassation.

The decision did not surprise anyone. Not even Me Laurent Bayon. The lawyer of Félicien Kabuga suspected that the Paris Court of Appeal would order, this Thursday, the surrender to international justice of his client, an 85-year-old man - 87 years old according to him -, accused of being the financial of the massacre which cost the life, according to the UN, to 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994, mainly members of the Tutsi minority. "It is not really a surprise since we consider that this court is only a recording chamber", explains the lawyer to 20 Minutes , adding that he would immediately seize the Court of Cassation so that it "Restore the law".

As soon as it receives the file, the highest court in the French judicial system will have two months to decide. "The criminal division of the Court of Cassation will simply verify that the decision pronounced today by the court of appeal complies with the law. But it does not examine the procedure on the fund, “details a judicial source. If it validates the judgment of the court of appeal, Félicien Kabuga, currently incarcerated in the Health prison, must be handed over within one month to the Mechanism for International Criminal Courts (MTPI), a structure responsible for complete the work of the International Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Transfer to Tanzania

He will then be transferred to Arusha, Tanzania, where the UN tribunal will sit, who will try him for genocide and crimes against humanity. But Félicien Kabuga, who was one of the most wanted fugitives in the world, wishes to be tried in France where he lived under a false identity. His lawyer fears that international justice will be biased. He considered, at the hearing, that the indictment drawn up by the prosecutor left "no doubt about his opinion as to the guilt" of the octogenarian, who has not yet been judged, recalls the Paris Court of Appeal. Mr. Bayon also claimed that the octogenarian's state of health did not allow him to be transferred to Tanzania, in particular because of the "health situation" in this East African country.

The Paris Court of Appeal, which contented itself with examining the validity of the arrest warrant issued, considered that nothing would prevent the defense of Félicien Kabuga from asserting his rights before the MTPI. It also emphasizes in its judgment that it will not be transferred to Tanzania "in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic". A judge from The Hague, in the Netherlands, where the MTPI sits, decided last week that it was necessary to wait until the conditions were met to transfer him to this country close to Rwanda that he fled in June 1994. Since then, he has been the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the ICTR in 1997, and by a "red notice" from Interpol since 2001.

One of the "creators of genocide"

It was the gendarmes of the OCLCH (Central Office for Combating Crimes against Humanity) who put an end to his 26 years on the run on May 16, in Asnières, in the Hauts-de-Seine. Kabuga "is one of the creators of the genocide", explained to 20 Minutes , a few days after his arrest, Colonel Eric Emeraux, who heads this office. "He's a guy who was extremely wealthy, who is suspected of having bought thousands of machetes to arm the Interahamwe militias. He is at the origin of the creation of Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines, which was a vector for the dissemination of hatred between 1992 and 1994 ”, added the officer.

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  • Genocide
  • Justice
  • Genocide in Rwanda
  • Rwanda